Battery storage makes fire crews nervous, and rightly so
New Hampshire has generally been a laggard in the energy revolution - our solar and wind power are feeble at best, electric vehicle chargers aren't coming, etc. - and large-scale energy storage is no exception. There have been two proposals to build stand-alone...
Fueled by colleges (esp. UNH), state COVID cases rise
When it comes to COVID-19 in New Hampshire, for most of the summer we have been split into two groups: Nursing homes and everybody else. Right now, however, that split is better described as schools and everybody else. The switch comes about partly because the...
A ‘culvert’ is a work of art when the Shakers made it
Replacing a crossing that carries a dirt road over an unnamed brook deep in the woods is no big deal, unless the crossing was originally built by the Shakers. Then it’s practically a work of art. “We thought of doing a concrete culvert. That would be the easy thing,...
It’s been a good year for our loons
That wasn't a politics joke: I mean the bird. “The good news is we set a new record for territorial pairs of loons,” said Harry Vogel, senior biologist and executive director of the Moultonborough, N.H.-based Loon Preservation Committee. “We now have more than five...
Climate change means some forests are capturing more carbon – hooray!
Increasing carbon in the atmosphere should have a positive effect on some plant growth. A long-term study of Harvard Forest, a research forest in Massachusetts, has found one of them: The trees are storing more carbon than they used to. As reported here, that's partly...
Bats aren’t evolving to survive white-nose syndrome but may be adapting
The fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome has absolutely obliterated certain species of North American bats, as I'm sure you know. One hope has been that it would cause a winged-mammal version of population resistance, where removing all the competing bats...
Some of the “biggest trees” in New Hampshire are going to lose that title
Some trees in New Hampshire that have been certified as the biggest in their species are going to lose their title – not because they’re shrinking, but because a change has been made in how to measure trees with multiple trunks. Already dethroned is an Eastern white...
N.H. patents through Sept. 6
By Targeted News Service The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire from Aug. 30 to Sept. 6. *** Parallel Wireless Assigned Patent for Multi-Radio Access Technology Paging Parallel Wireless, Nashua, New Hampshire, has been assigned a patent (No....
Don’t hold your breath for those EV charging corridors, New Hampshire
Plans to use $4.6 million from the VW "dieselgate" settlement to install DC fast chargers along 6 major routes in New Hampshire are on hold because there were no suitable bids to the state’s request for proposals last winter. The RFP is being reworked but COVID-19...
Mass. considers ranked-choice voting
I did not realize that there's a ballot initiative in Massachusetts to add ranked-choice voting. If Question 2 is approved, the system would go into effect in 2022, covering most state and federal offices but exempting presidential and local elections. Dan Kennedy, a...
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Science Cafe NHAbout Granite Geek
Dave Brooks has written a science/tech column since 1991 – yes, that long – and has written this blog since 2006, keeping an eye on topics of geekish interest in and around New Hampshire, from software to sea level rise, population dynamics to printing (3-D, of course). He moderates monthly Science Cafe NH discussions, beer in hand, and discusses the geek world regularly on WKXL radio in Concord.
Brooks earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics but got lost on the way to the Ivory Tower and ended up in a newsroom. He has reported for newspapers from Tennessee to New England. Rummage through his bag of awards you’ll find oddities like three Best Blog prizes from the New Hampshire Press Association and a Writer of the Year award from the N.H. Farm and Forest Bureau, of all places. He joined the Concord Monitor in 2015.